CZECH MAY TOURS
May
2 - 13, 2009
6
to 12 glorious days
Offered by Heritage Tours Inc.
4219 Thornhill,
St. Paul, MN 55127-7822 ( for different
tour versions )
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Tours officially
start in
Prague, Czech Republic.
I suggest you fly into Prague the day
before the tours starts.
( as a option ) We
have booked space in a very nice hotel in the historic center the day
before all tours start.
( we can easily
book additional nights at the hotels – no problem )
May 2, Saturday
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1st May Tour officially starts at 9 AM -
in the lobby of our Hotel in Central Prague.
9 AM
Depart the hotel for - Plzen where we will be active participants in the
extensive programs of the :
PM 64th
anniversary Plzen Liberation festival to celebrate the heroic Americans
who liberated the city.
May 3, Sunday
AM Free
time for church, continue with the extensive festival program, lots of
music, dancing, displays, lectures,
PM parades, see the
extensive program in English on this web site :
http://www.liberationfestival.com/index.html
May 4, Monday
AM Off to visit
historic Pisek, with the oldest stone bridge in Central Europe ( build
about the year 1300 ), excursion
PM a local traditional
pottery workshop. Then we go to a small
village to learn the traditions of your
ancestors –
make kolac - a
Czech pastry and Jiternice - sausage,
and a couple of folk songs and dances. Village dinner feast
tonight !
depart for our hotel in the old town of Ceske Budejovice.
May 5,
Tuesday
AM Visit
with a Bohemian fish scale artist, a old South Bohemian tradition less
then a handful of people can still do.
PM Then
to historic Tabor, walking tour of the old town. Tour a cut glass crystal
company & old gothic church.
May 6,
Wednesday
AM
Visit to the Czech - American Emigration museum, stop in historic
Trebon, visit a oplatky - spa wafer store
PM off
to charming Cesky Krumlov, walking tour of the old town, dinner in a
medieval restaurant.
May 7,
Thursday
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( 2nd May tour starts at 4 PM from hotel lobby – includes boat ride, walk & hotel stay )
AM Tour
a museum of South-bohemian folk costumes, then a visit to Pisek with the
oldest stone bridge in Central
PM Europe, then to Prague, check-in at hotel, dinner cruise on the
Vltava river. Optional evening walking tour,
when
the lights of the historic city come on – magical – something you will
never forget.
May 8,
Friday (
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1st
tour ends with breakfast this morning unless you opt to extend )
AM Walking tour
through the Prague Castle complex - the largest in
the world, lunch and continued sightseeing of
PM Karluv Most
(Charles Bridge), and Stare Mesto (Old Town). till about 2 PM, evening
free - for concerts, etc
May 9,
Saturday
AM Guided tour of
Vysehrad Castle and/or Josefov (Jewish Town) or Museums or opt out - to
explore on your own,
PM Spend
the afternoon at the Central Bohemia folk festival, seeing folk
dancing, singing, and lots of folk costumes,
music, great
entertainment ! dinner at a local restaurant.
May
10, Sunday - 1st May tour w/Prague extension ends here 9 AM, Or you can
opt to extend to the full 12 days
AM
Departure for Kutna Hora, visit historic gothic cathedral, and walking
tour. Visit the famous ossuary ?
PM
then to Chlum, near Hradec Králové and visit the Prussia-Austrian battle
memorial - the second biggest battle of
the 19th century, tour the museum. Depart for Nachod, check-in to our
charming hotel, dinner and relax.
May 11, Monday
AM
Walking tour of the old town, excursion to the local brewery
Primátor, lunch in the historic center ?
PM Off to visit with a
couple of locals folk artists – eggs, and bone lace, paper cutouts.
Dinner in a village.
May
12, Tuesday
AM
Crossing the now unmanned border into Poland to visit a nearby town.
Then back to Czech to charming Nove
PM
Mesto, to visit a baroque pharmacy & old crafts, a lace museum, lace
shop, a glass artist, and a bell foundry
May
13, Wednesday
AM
depart towards Prague, with stops at a textile museum & shop, visit
Josefov fortress, stop at the Czech queens
PM city
of Hradec Králové, sightseeing in the historic center. Off to Prague
check-in at our hotel. Evening walk.
May
14, Thursday (
your hotel for the night of May 13th IS included in our tour
price )
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Tours ends with breakfast this morning, and a lifetime of good memories !
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The final itinerary will have more stops,
and much more detail. I do not publish this in advanced because we don’t
want our
out-of-the-way places to be swamped with tourists. Our secret places are
for you - our valued guests.
PRICES FOR THESE WONDERFUL TRAVEL EXPERENCES ARE ONLY :
First May tour =
May 2nd to May 8th ( through breakfast ) total of
6 days / 6 nights
THIS FULL 6 DAY TOUR is : $ 1895.00* per-person,
double. ( same price as last year ! ) Single is $ 400 extra.
Second
May tour = May 7th starting at 3:30 PM ( includes
boat ride/dinner and tour ) to May 14th - 11 AM
FULL 6 DAY TOUR + is : $ 1695.00* per-person,
double. Single is $ 400 extra.
BOTH
tours together : May 2nd 9 AM through May 14th
11 AM
FULL 12 +
DAY TOUR is : $ 2995.00* per-person sharing a double room. Single
is $ 700 extra for a single room.
Tour price is based on double room
occupancy. ( most times it’s two beds in a room ) Single supplement price
is for a single room, with a single bed. Triple rooms are available too.
Tour price includes : Hotel rooms with private bath, in small select
superior class hotels ( 3 stars or above ). Almost all meals, every
breakfast, and most all evening meals, ( which are large ). Professional
driver, in a nice new 48 passenger modern air-conditioned motor coach -
( with LOTS of room to relax and spread out on all those empty seats, this
is a real luxury – as most tours will cram you in, every seat is full )
Or a smaller vehicle in case of a small group. This is a fully guided
tour, with a full time licensed local Czech guide. You will not be
left on your own - with no clue. ( unless you want to ) Your admission to
places and events, on the itinerary. Plus lots of entertainment, ( due
to our extensive expertise, almost all entertainment we have is exclusive
to Heritage Tours ) This is a Land only tour. Program is subject
to change, tour price based on currency exchange rates as of Nov. 1st,
2008. No two tours have ever been the same, each is unique and custom
designed around the local calendar of events. No one else will offer a
tour like ours, period Tour size is limited to around 10 – 20
people – again this is a real luxury, as many of my competitors
have 35 to 50 people on one tour. Tour space is held by
deposit only. *Listed tour price is by personal or bank check,
final payment can be made by credit card, and 4 % will be added to your
total for credit card fees. ( the 4 % is NOT added to your tour deposit )
You may charge your tour deposit to
your credit card, by phone or email. Or by personal check sent by postal
mail.
To place a credit card tour deposit, and or
to book your flights to Europe call
Forest Lake
Travel at : (651) 464-5092 or Toll Free 1-888-427-8687 (Central time zone)
We invite you
to view our extensive web site,
www.czechheritage.com as much more information can be found there.
For ALL
tour questions please contact Mark, as he is on every tour - best by email
at :
Bmark@visi.com or by phone at ( 651)
426-1222 or you can also try ( 480 ) 982-7994 - ask for Mark
We add many things to our tour program in Europe and are only
satisfied when most people say I am too tired to
go on ! We don’t believe in playing games with tour prices, there will
be very few extras while you are on our tour. Those very few
extras are: a. One meal a day, mostly lunches ( with two
BIG meals a day, its not missed by
most people) Beverages other than breakfast. b. Car, drivers,
translators, for family visits and personal reasons, and additional
services done by the genealogical service. c. An occasional
evening cultural program, or extra stops at places or events we come
across. d. Gratuities during the tour. e. Transportation
to / from Europe ( Deb at Forest lake travel can get you a price for
this – or do your own thing ! ) in Prague transfers to meet the start of
the tour.
For references please feel free to contact :
Elizabeth
Miller in NC (704) 364-4857 email,
emiller@vnet.net
Karen Helwig ( 262 ) 473-2187 in Wisc. email,
helwigr@cni-usa.com
Kathryn Betlach
(415) 479-8483 in Calif.
Gary Zabokrtsky ( 402 ) 729-2875 in Nebraska. email :
garyzab@alltel.net
Barb Bening ( 507
) 964-2739 in MN
Lisa Conrath email, ewm1573@yahoo.com
in SC.
Betsey McCalley (
319 ) 363-9163 in Iowa
Doreen
McKenny 952-941-0426 in MN
Doreenlouise@aol.com
Gerry Payette in
ILL. ( 708 ) 478-1247
Kathy Sigdestad in KY email :
kathysig@insightbb.com.
Marge Duffy in
MN email, Mduffy38@aol.com
Midge Robbeloth 920-426-8890 in Wisc.
LFACHE@aol.com
Carol & George
Bisek in MN Cbisek@hazelden.org
Pat & Dick Kutilek 402-393-7469 in Neb. email,
dpkutilek@cox.net
Susan Tesauro
in ILL 708-597-8822
Jan Jacobs 303-420-6442 in CO email :
jjacobs19@aol.com
Elaine Jones in
Neb email : ekathryn@cox.net
Our exclusive family history assistance: While on a Heritage
Tour if you are interested in locating your family’s roots, we can make
it happen. We take this mission VERY SERIOUSLY. Unlike others we
contact and search for your living relatives LONG before you depart for
Europe. We check in advance to make sure people know you are coming,
that the church will be open, that people will be home etc. All these
matters dealing with family history are handled by a professionally
licensed genealogical service, run by a Slovak-American married to a
Czech based in Prague. They work extensively in Central Europe. We
will contact your relatives, and you and they will decide how long your
visit will be, a evening, afternoon, a day ? As not everyone will speak
English, drive, or even have a car, we can help out with a car, van,
driver or translator if you request it, no problem ! ( at a additional
fee ) We will basically fill in with whatever you need to make your
family visit a roaring success ! Detailed information regarding this
service and much more, will be sent out to you – after you have
signed up for a tour.
This is a GREAT GENERAL TOUR, each day is plum full of
activities, your personal family history and visit is for you, the group
is not invited along. We will be very interested to hear about your
wonderful visit, but it’s your day to be spent with your family.
Don’t let the large paragraph above worry you if your not of Czech or
Slovak background. If your interest is just seeing a wonderful part of
Europe - enjoying a more in-depth experience, or extensive travelers
looking for a better travel experience – all have found our tours a
wonderful off the beaten path travel experience !
In the last few years we have had many non-Czech or Slovak background
people join us, as more of the world learns what a wonderful place
Central Europe really is. Including American Teachers and librarians
doing school projects, and American’s living in Europe full time. On
our last tour of 2006, we had 6 Australian’s and a lady from England
– two of the Australians were returning for their 2nd tour with us ! (
none of whom are of Czech or Slovak background, they had all heard
wonderful things about our tours – all the way down under ! )
You will meet many friends as we have over the last 16 years, it's less
like a tour and more like a family outing visiting friends.
Don’t miss your chance…………. Join us
for the trip of a lifetime in 2009!
